Named for Community Health faculty member and group advisor to the Society of United Liberal Students (SOULS) Ledonia Wright, the building was originally constructed to serve as a Home Economic Practice House. Dedicated on February 26, 1953 it later served as the Center for Career Placement before it was rechristened the Ledonia S. Wright Cultural Center in 1976 following its namesake’s sudden death.
- Other names
- Bloxton House, Adelaide E. Bloxton Home Management House, Home Management
- Built
- 1952
- Construction cost
- $86,490
- Gross sq. ft.
- 3,712
- Assignable sq. ft.
- 2,589
- Architects
- James W. Griffith, Greenville, NC
- Namesake
- Adelaide E. Bloxton (1886-1950), native of Nansemond County, Virginia, was a B.S. undergraduate at the college of William and Mary, and a M.S. graduate at Columbia University. Bloxton also studied at the University of Tennessee and the University of North Carolina. Before coming to ECU, she was at one time connected with the Home Life School at Appomatox, Virginia and served as city supervisor and teacher of home economics at Danville, Virginia. She taught Home Economics at ECU (1927-1928) and then became the Director of the Department (1928-1950). In this capacity she was allowed to live in the Home Economics house and it was here that she died in 1950. In addition to her duties as teacher and department chair, she acted as Dean of Women during the 1930 summer term and served on numerous committees.
Ledonia S. Wright was born January 5, 1930 and received her masters degree in education from Shaw University. She became an associate professor with the department of Community Health at ECU in 1974 while working on her Ph.D. in Education from UNC Chapel Hill. She was also the faculty advisor for the Society of United Liberal Students (S.O.U.L.S.) until her sudden death in 1976. - History
- In 1952 a home management house was built for the Home Economics Department between Erwin and Garrett.
Bloxton House was dedicated on February 26, 1953. Bloxton House, along with Erwin Hall which was built just east of it, were constructed on the western campus. It was a wooded area at the time, located behind the since demolished Wilson Dormitory.It is a simple two-story brick structure, originally housing a training facility for Home Economic students. The building also housed the Center for Career Placement and as of the late sixties, contains the Ledonia Wright African-American Culture Center. In 1976 it was rechristened the Ledonia S. Wright Cultural Center following the death of the popular and respected professor of Social Work.
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